Match against Pak was one of the best: Dhoni

Updated: 04 June 2009 17:03 IST

MS Dhoni has described India's warm up clash against Pakistan as one of the best matches they have played.

Written by Press Trust of India

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London:

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has described India's warm up clash against Pakistan ahead of ICC World T20 as one of the best matches they have played but reckons that doing an encore in future would be difficult.

"It was one of the best games but difficult to replicate it in future," said Dhoni after his side thrashed Pakistan by nine-wickets in front of a sold-out crowd at the Oval on Wednesday night.

Openers Rohit Sharma (80) and Gautam Gambhir (52) nearly knocked off the required 159 runs between them alone, a performance which would send shudders down the spine of other teams.

Dhoni was unwilling to confirm if Sharma has booked his place in the squad even if Sehwag recovers from his shoulder injury in coming days.

"It's difficult to say, injuries being injuries...I don't want to speculate about it now."

There was no ambiguity about Zaheer Khan though as Dhoni said the left-arm paceman is definitely out of the opening game against Bangladesh on Friday and could also be out of the final league game against Ireland on June 10.

"Zaheer has started bowling and signs are encouraging but we don't want to take any risks," he explained.

Outlining his reasons for promoting the Mumbai batsman to opener's slot, Dhoni said Sharma was an automatic choice.

"I discussed with him in a practice session and he responded with enthusiasm. With Viru injured, he was the best option available. In the first game (against New Zealand), I thought I would open. But then Yuvi was unfit so I thought I would bat at number three and down the order.

"Rohit seemed an appropriate talent who could really open the innings. He has the time when he plays the quickest of bowlers. That really helped me take the decision. Now he has made a big impact. Hopefully, he would get those runs throughout the tournament," he said.

Gangly pacer Ishant Sharma also did his bit by bowling a misely spell and Dhoni is keen to use him in the middle overs.

"I still feel Ishant should bowl in the middle overs. May be an over to start or end with but he is best served in the middle overs.

"It is a stage when batsmen are not looking to go after the bowlers and Ishant isn't perforced to bowl his yorkers. In these conditions, he gets a bit of bounce. He hits the deck hard and middle overs are ideal for him," he said.

On a brilliant day for them, Dhoni still found fault with his team's performance in the field.

"I don't think we bowled well in the final two overs. We were not experimenting, we were trying to bowl yorkers and that's not good," he said.